Re: [Cz-L] traveling under mother's maiden name

A version of this happened in my mother's (Pearl Spiegel Fichman's)
family. Here is a selection from her memoir, Before Memories Fade, on
the subject. She begins by discussing the births and family names of
four of her older brothers and sisters:

"After one year of married life Eli was born, in 1905. When Father came
to register the birth of his son at City Hall, they requested the
marriage certificate of the parents. Since the Austrian authorities did
not recognize the religious marriage as officially valid, they insisted
on naming the baby by the mother’s maiden name. Thus, he was Elias
Stadler, his mother’s son, father not being acknowledged.

Not much attention was paid to that fact and life went on. About a year
and a half later Bertha (Betty) was born. Upon registration of this
baby, the clerk accepted the fact that my parents were married and she
was granted the name of the father - Spiegel. The same procedure worked
in Gertie’s case - her name was Gusta Spiegel and life went on more or
less merrily.

However, in 1910 another son was born, Bernhard. In vain did my Father
plead with the clerk in charge of registration. That one started out
with endless questions - whether my parents were officially married at
City Hall; whether my Father’s parents had been officially married,
etc. He reached the following decision: this child’s name should be
Herzog, my Father’s mother’s maiden name. Home he went, puzzled and
upset since both his sons did not carry his name; only his daughters
did."

This story continues. The resolution, some pages later:

"Thus, my parents got married in 1919 in front of a judge, after 15
years of married life and after the birth of six children. The children
were all legally adopted shortly after because, according to civil laws
they were all illegitimate."

Eytan

Eytan Fichman, AIA
B.Arch., M.Arch., Ed.M.

-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Heger <pheger_at_gmail.com>
To: AJS1PRES_at_aol.com
Cc: Czernowitz-L_at_cornell.edu
Sent: Mon, May 17, 2010 12:23 am
Subject: Re: [Cz-L] traveling under mother's maiden name

Jews did not want to marry officially at the Government, for religious
reasons. Therefore their children were considered  born without a
father and bore the names of their mothers.
One of my grandfathers also bore the name of is mother
Paul Heger
On Sun, May 16, 2010 at 9:42 PM, <AJS1PRES_at_aol.com> wrote:
>
> I have just discovered that one of my great aunts, when emigrating to
the
> US from Czernowitz in 1904, traveled under her mother's maiden name.
> Has anyone heard of this before, or can enlighten me as to why one
would do
>  this, please let me know.
>
> Thanks
>
> Bruce Wexler
> Jackson, NJ
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Received on 2010-05-17 08:43:00